The Election Commission (EC) has declared valid the nomination paper of Dr Tasnim Jara, an independent candidate for the Dhaka-9 constituency, clearing her to contest in the 13th parliamentary elections.
The Commission announced this on Saturday, January 10, after a hearing of her appeal against the cancellation of her nomination paper.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners were present at the hearing at the Nirbachan Bhaban auditorium in Dhaka's Agargaon.
After the hearing, Jara told the reporters, "Now I will be able to compete in the next elections with support from all."
"My desired electoral symbol is football, and I will apply for it," she added.
Earlier on January 3, the Election Commission scrapped Jara's nomination paper after scrutiny.
Explaining the grounds for the cancellation, Jara had stated her nomination was rejected due to discrepancies involving the voter information of two signatories among the required one percent of voters’ signatures for independent candidates.
“One voter lives in Khilgaon. Since Khilgaon falls under both Dhaka-9 and Dhaka-11, he was unaware that he was not a voter of Dhaka-9, and there was no way for him to know. He checked the website but could not find his voter number. Based on his NID, he believed he was a Dhaka-9 voter and signed accordingly,” she said.
In the second case, Jara said, the address mentioned on the voter’s NID hard copy indicated Dhaka-9, leading the person to believe he was a voter of the constituency. “However, according to Election Commission records, he is not a Dhaka-9 voter, which again was beyond his knowledge.”
Tasnim Jara recently stepped down from the National Citizen Party (NCP) as its senior joint member secretary and announced that she will contest the upcoming national elections from the Dhaka-9 constituency as an independent candidate.
Her sudden announcement follows a discord within the NCP over allying with Jamaat-e-Islami.
With inputs from UNB
SM/MSU